The new NV cards are due out middle of June and are expected to boast some MAJOR performance increases. A couple of leaks are saying 90% improvement over a 9800GX2. Supposedly, the card may offer Ray Tracing and PhysX onboard. The card is probably going to run extremely hot though based on the power requirements (Power from PCE2.0, 6 Pin AND 8 Pin Supplemental) and 65nm process.







The pictures clearly show 8-pin and 6-pin power connectors on the top of the PCB, capable of supplying 225W to the card, although actual power usage may not be quite so high. You can’t tell much more from the pictures, other than the massive size of the GPU. Elsewhere, the die has been measured at 576mm2, which is 75 per cent larger than G92, and still larger than the G80.

Much more detail on the card’s specification has also leaked out in the last week. The GTX 280 will allegedly have 240 stream processors, compared to the 9800 GTX’s total of 128. It will have a 512-bit memory bus, but still use 1GB of GDDR3 (while ATI will be using GDDR5 in its upcoming RV770). The cut-down GTX 260 will offer 192 stream processors, and will use a 448-bit memory bus with just 896MB of GDDR3.

These cards at $650 and $400 are a flop imo, all things considered. A 9800GX2 owns the GTX280 for $150 less while running nearly 20db quieter. Both are shameful two slot cards but the noise just blows me away...







The shameful part of the new launch is performance imo. Considering the ATI cards should be on par with the GTX260 for $100 less and consume one slot, review teh performance yourself. ATI's 4850/4870 benchmarks are still under NDA.

dude, 20db is a huge difference in noise level, that's ridiculous

I consider 56db to be unpleasant coming from my tower...and that's at idle? My next step will be a 4850/4870...back to ATI days...